Chapter Three: Steering from the Mandrake

Kat rushed outside to meet the other members waiting for her. Susie waved at her and she joined them.

“I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting. I didn't know when the time went by so fast.” Kat apologized as Susie held her hands.

“It's okay. We just got outside too.”

The two men with them were lively. You could tell the women had brainwashed them into being a part of their gossip circle. Lee was six feet tall with fine facial features. He looked just like a model, with his athletic body and ripped arms. From the way it looked, he had a big crush on Daya. He was kind of shy and stood close to her.

And Matt, the blondie. He was the jester. Two inches shorter than Lee, Matt was the youngest. He wrapped his hands around the women and all of them rushed to the restaurant with smiles.

“I'll have steak!” Matt announced.

“Who's gonna pay?” Gwen asked and everyone burst into laughter.

“We'll treat Kat to our special. The welcome special platter.” Susie said as she held Kat's hand.

A black Lexus parked in front of them and everyone halted immediately. It was the devil.

“Hello, sir.” They all said, sounding tense.

Kat looked into the car and it was Levi. What was he waiting for? He wasn't expecting her to just jump into his car as if they were friends.

“Get in the car, Kathleen,” he said.

“I'm afraid I have plans, sir. My teammates are treating me to dinner today.” Kathleen replied, holding Susie's hand again.

“Kat—”

“Let's go guys.” Kathleen cut in before he could finish, leaving with the rest.

They walked as fast as they could till they were out of sight. Certain that he wasn't in sight, they burst into laughter again as they entered the restaurant.

It was a quick distance to the restaurant, and the ambiance was comforting, giving a warm vibe as soon as you walked in.

"Phew, His voice sent shivers down my spine." Daya remarked.

"I would immediately get on my knees if it were me." Gwen giggled as they took their seats.

“And what would you like to have darlings?” The waitress walked to them. She was in her mid-fifties, her fine voice as she smiled at them.

“We'll have the special treat. We have a new team member. Her name is Kathleen,” Matt announced.

“Welcome to SweetDine. My name is Leslie, but just call me Nana.” The woman said sweetly.

“Nice to meet you, Nana. This place is lovely.” Kat smiled. “And it's just Kat.”

“You're free to dine anytime, sweetie. The special FineDine coming right up.” Nana chuckled. “This one is on the house.” She whispered and left.

One good thing she was grateful for was that she had the nicest teammates. It was rumored that they were unwelcoming and unfriendly people as a result of you-know-who, but they were the opposite.

“So Kat, do you live around here?” Daya asked.

“I live in Frolley.”

“That’s like almost thirty minutes from here. I live in Hemsway,” Matt said. “We could get on the same bus, I'll be getting off before you though.”

Kat nodded, collecting the fries from Lee. They went on and on introducing themselves. The special treat finally arrives and everyone starts digging in.

“We call him the Mandrake,” Gwen confessed.

“Mandrake? You mean the Mandrake from Earwig and the Witch?” Kat asked in surprise.

“The only time we talk to him is in meetings, nothing else,” Susie says with a mouth full of pasta.

“And you know the Mandrake hates to be disturbed, barely talks to anyone unless needed. I even wonder if he has any feelings behind those eyes of his.” Lee says.

Kat was silent. Levi had changed a lot, his eyes felt like they were hiding a lot of things. His expression felt distant, as if he was shutting everything and everyone out.

But that's none of her business. He left without a trace and now surprisingly, he's back, and not only that, he is her boss.

"Nobody knows what's going on behind those eyes. They're always cold, dark." Gwen said.

"I don't think anyone has ever seen him smile before. Trust me, I'll eat more than a hundred chocolate bars if I ever see him do." Lee chewed a fry then cutely gave one to Daya.

"Actually he does --" Kat said, laughing, and there was a sudden silence after.

"I mean, well, you know... There's no way he can't smile."

There was still silence, their eyes were fixed on her. Kat chuckled dryly and quickly downed some coke, diverting her gaze from hers

“oh oh…” Matt began. “I remember one time we were working on a project. It was for the twenty-fifth anniversary of GreyCorps and the Mandrake wanted something special. He had us work straight up for four days with only two hours' break all because the designing team didn't get the blueprint correctly.”

“What? That's cruel.”

“He was like this.” Matt got up, put his hands in his pockets, and made a straight face. “It's either you choose to slave away or come up with something better.” He mimicked.

Everyone began to laugh as Matt continued. “If I was to rate those designs, I wouldn't even know where to start from.”

“Or do you remember the time he didn't know he was still on camera after a Zoom meeting,” Daya said.

“Yeah, yeah.” They all laughed, Kat, joining in the laughing too.

“Is this thing still on? How's this still on?” Matt mimicked again, holding his phone.

The laughter died slowly as everyone's attention was focused on Matt differently.

“I didn't know he did meetings half dressed too…”

Matt's laughter became awkward and dry as he tried to figure out the silence. He missed the signs, the Mandrake was behind him.

“He…He's behind me?” He cleared his throat and everyone nodded. Matt turned slowly, swallowing hard as he faced the rigid frame behind him.

“I'm…I'm very sorry sir.”

Levi didn't say a word. He sat and then folded his arms. Matt and the rest sat closely with themselves, leaving an amount of distance between them, him and Kat.

Kat slowly took a drink and looked at the frozen expressions next to her. He was a show wrecker. She felt uncomfortable herself.

“Uhmm… why are you here… sir?” Gwen, his assistant, managed to ask.

“I decided to join the dinner. It won't be nice to have our newest team member have all the fun alone.” He responded, making the situation even more tense and awkward.

“Oh…that's…” Susie bumped Daya to back her up.

“Nice… yeah sir,” Daya said, giving Susie a dangerous stare.

“We're about to leave now. We didn't know you'd be coming. It's pretty late, right? What do you think guys?” Susie asked, getting up quickly and grabbing her bag.

Kat looked at them in surprise, trying to ask them to wait, but they only waved and grabbed their things.

The rest followed suit immediately, they waved Kat a quick goodbye, bowed, and headed for the door.

“Bye Kat.” Matt waved as he sprinted out immediately.

Levi still sat where he was, unmoved as he folded his hands. He only took a fry and rubbed his fingers together.

“I'll take my leave now,” Kat said, standing up.

“I told you I was going to pick you up after work.” He began, his voice freezing her on the spot.

“You didn't allow me to say if I was available or not.”

“We did not finish our discussion earlier. It's important we come to an agreement fast.”

“I've told you that there's no way I'll live with you. There's no part of the job that said that.” Kat took a seat, leaving enough distance between them.

“We can't discuss this here. That is why I said I would pick you up.”

“Then no problem, we can simply talk in the office.”

Levi took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair.

To be honest, Kat felt her heart thump a little bit. He looked so darn handsome making that move.

“Stop being an idiot Kat!” She thought to herself, brushing away any pictures of him in her mind.

“Kathleen.” Her name danced sweetly on his lips. “Please.”

Kat stood up and began to head for the door. “Are you coming or not?”

While she was not in full support of living with him, she wasn't ready to take any chances. She'd negotiate, do it on her own terms and in her own way.

“Kathleen!”

She turned to see why he was calling her when she bumped into the waiter, pouring the contents he was carrying on her shirt — again!

“Why does every meeting with you have to be chaotic?” She cussed under her breath.

“I'm so sorry miss.” The waiter apologized, offering her a napkin.

She looked up to see Levi offering her a handkerchief, telling the waiter not to bother.

Reluctantly, she collected the kerchief from him and wiped her entirely stained shirt. She would have to give it to the dry cleaners when she got home or throw it away. The shirt had had its own share of drama in one day.

To make the situation even more chaotic, the rain began to fall. Kat cussed under her breath the more. The weather forecast never said anything about rain falling at all.

“I guess we'll have to talk about this tomorrow,” Kat said, stretching her hand out in the rain to feel how heavy it was.

“I'll drive you home.”

“It's okay, the bus stop is not far from here.” She kept her hand stretched.

“Kathleen, the rain is too heavy for you to walk all the way to the bus stop.” He insisted.

“I'm okay. I'll just cover my head with my bag and get there in no time.”

“Wait here, I'll take the car around.” He turned, leaving her before she could refuse and heading into the rain.

He wasn't even listening to what she was saying at all. Kat put her bag over her head and ran as fast as she could.

The bus stop was around a three-minute walk away. If she took quick steps while avoiding slipping and falling, she'd get there in no time.

Walking as fast as she could, Kat kept on walking. But the faster she felt she walked, the heavier the rain began.

“This was a stupid idea, Kat. You should have waited.” She immediately began to regret her choices.

The Lexus car stopped, and she knew who it was. Looking into the car, she could see his face piercing straight into her.

“Get in the car, Kathleen.” He said, winding down properly.

“I'm almost there, you can go.” She said, the torrent beating down on her. Her clothes were already sticking to her body and the bad was doing a very poor job of shielding her a little.

“Kathleen.” His voice sounded more serious. “Get in the car now!”

“I'm not going home with you.”

“Are you crazy? Nobody is talking about going anywhere with me but that you get in the fucking car now before I do something you don't like!”

Lightning flashed, making everywhere bright for a split second and the loud bang of thunder.

Before he could speak any further, Kathleen got into the car as quickly as the lightning that struck some seconds ago.